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Kruger wins innovation award for cellulose filament demonstration plant

Kruger Inc. was presented with the “Open Innovation” Award by the Association pour le développement de la recherche et de l’innovation du Québec (Québec Association for research and innovation development – ADRIQ) in recognition of its cellulose filament demonstration plant in Trois-Rivières. ADRIQ presents this annual award to a company that “has distinguished itself by creating and implementing world-class equipment in the field of collaborative innovation.”

The world’s only cellulose filament (CF) demonstration plant, developed as part of an R&D partnership with FPInnovations and dedicated in June 2014, can produce five tonnes of this new-generation biomaterial per day.

“We are very happy to be recognized for our efforts towards this project that is as innovative as it is promising, not only for the pulp and paper industry but also for a host of industries that can benefit by incorporating cellulose filaments into their products to improve their strength, their environmental friendliness and potentially their affordability,” said Daniel Archambault, executive vice-president and chief operating officer, Industrial Products Division, Kruger.

Pierre Lapointe, president and CEO of FPinnovations, added: “Thanks to the Trois-Rivières plant, Canada is now in the pole position of global competition to develop new applications of cellulose-based materials that will be used in products for everyday life.”

The demo plant operates on a simple and efficient chemical-free process developed by FPInnovations after four years of intensive work. CF is obtained by mechanically peeling the filaments from wood fibres. The resulting filaments are extremely thin at about 500 nanometres wide, but they can be as long as a half a millimetre and are extremely light and flexible.

The cellulose filament project includes an intensive R&D program to support the industrial scale-up for new applications, jointly with industries or companies that could benefit from including CF in their products.